Field
The present application relates generally to wireless network communications, and, more specifically, to systems, methods, and devices for communicating between wireless devices without wasting available bandwidth when one or more of the wireless devices can operate on a limited portion of the available bandwidth.
Description of the Related Art
In many telecommunication systems, communications networks are used to exchange messages among several interacting spatially-separated devices. Networks may be classified according to geographic scope, which could be, for example, a metropolitan area, a local area, or a personal area. Such networks would be designated respectively as a wide area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), local area network (LAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or personal area network (PAN). Networks also differ according to the switching/routing technique used to interconnect the various network nodes and devices (e.g. circuit switching vs. packet switching), the type of physical media employed for transmission (e.g. wired vs. wireless), and the set of communication protocols used (e.g. Internet protocol suite, SONET (Synchronous Optical Networking), Ethernet, etc.).
Wireless networks are often preferred when the network elements are mobile and thus have dynamic connectivity needs, or if the network architecture is formed in an ad hoc, rather than fixed, topology. Wireless networks employ intangible physical media in an unguided propagation mode using electromagnetic waves in the radio, microwave, infra-red, optical, etc. frequency bands. Wireless networks advantageously facilitate user mobility and rapid field deployment when compared to fixed wired networks.
One or more devices in a wireless network may be capable of only operating on a limited band of the available bandwidth provided by the wireless network. For example, a wireless device may include hardware or software allowing the wireless device to operate as one of an 802.11n or 802.11ac device. 802.11n devices may be limited to operating on only 40 MHz channels, while 802.11ac devices may be capable of operating on 80 MHz channels. Similarly, an 802.11n access point may be limited to communicating on only 40 MHz channels, while 802.11ac access points may be capable of communicating on 80 MHz channels with 802.11ac wireless devices while being required by wireless standards to be backwards compatible with 802.11n wireless devices and capable of operating on 40 MHz channels. Thus, a mixture of 802.11n and 802.11ac wireless devices may be associated with the same 802.11ac access point at a given moment. However, the limited bandwidth capabilities of the 802.11n wireless devices may result in wasted bandwidth when the 802.11ac access point is communicating with 802.11n wireless devices. Thus, improved systems, methods, and devices for simultaneously communicating with 802.11n and 802.11ac wireless devices are desired.